1. Field of Invention
Surgical instruments, primarily those associated with the application of sutures into internal tissues during the course of surgery, are provided with and handle extending an upper resilient member and lower resilient member having respective first ends clamped within an anchor plate with a wedged spacer between the first ends further attaching to a pivotal trigger and forming a handle portion, the upper and lower resilient members also defining respective second ends forming an operational end of the slidingly engaged and wrapped upper and lower resilient members further defining an operational end attaching a tool, wherein the pivotal trigger mechanism is pushed downward, an inward tension is applied to the upper resilient member with an outward force applied to the lower resilient member, forcing the second ends of the upper and lower members in an upward direction, and wherein the pivotal trigger mechanism is pulled back towards the handle, an inward tension is applied to lower resilient member with an outward force applied to the upper resilient member, forcing the second ends of the upper and lower members in a downward direction allowing the surgical instrument to be guided through tissue in a bi-directional curved pathway, resulting in a reduction of damage to collateral tissue during the surgical procedure.
2. Description of Prior Art
The following United States patents and publications were discovered and are disclosed within this application for utility patent. All relate to surgical instruments with some of them using a steering mechanism in some form or manner.
Several of the surgical instruments are shown by example, which may be adapted to the presently disclosed technology are provided for a brief reference as to the types of surgical instruments for which the improvements to the art as surgical instruments for sale and use by Inlet Medical Inc., disclosing suture passers, sutures, ligament graspers, tie knot pushers, clamps. Those references have not been included for review due to their having been removed from public access and thus not included by reference. They still have made reference to small surgical instruments to reduce the amount of collateral damage to surrounding tissue caused by their insertion into a surgical site.
Dr. Allen Deutsch, M.D., in an article written in the US Musculoskeletal Review 2006, pgs. 35-37, identifies the newer and smaller penetrating instruments used in a rotator cuff repair, and identifies factors to be considered in choosing surgical instruments for passing a suture through the rotator cuff, including: accuracy, its potential to cause further injury to degenerative cuff tissue, the amount of tissue that can be incorporated into the repair, and its cost. Again that reference cannot be supplied due to it having been removed from public access. The identified surgical instruments are suture punches and penetrating suture graspers. He further identifies two surgical instruments for this procedure as the Scorpion™, made by Arthrex of Naples, Fla., and the ExpressSew™, made by Mitek of Raynham, Mass.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,473 to Gatturna discloses a device for securing and positioning a wire to a needle, including a probe wire through a cannula needle and mor particularly, towards a locking and positioning device for a needle wire localizer. There is a J-curved tip next to the point of the needle. Another similar needle guide is indicated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,376 to Hawkins, Jr. An earlier suture passer is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,441,497 to Paudler, which has a plurality of elongated flexible members attached at two common ends forming dual piercing tips, with the suture placed between connected flexible members as the device is inserted into a surgical pathway, with the members bending around curves through manual manipulation.
A ligating device is shown in Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0079911 to Muramatsu, which demonstrates an introduction tube inserted into a location within the surgical site with at least two manipulating wires movably inserted within the tube and at least two clips having a proximal end portion with a pinch section at the end of the tube. The wires manipulate the clips within the tube with the clips having the ability to grasp tissue and pull it within the tube. A suture passer with a curved suture carrier with a sharpened tip, shown with two suture passers, allow for the upward insertion of sutures from below and insertion level for passing and directing the sutures upwards through tissue after piercing the tissue from above.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,924 to Crittenden, a steerable guide wire provides the means to adjust the curvature of the tip of a surgical instrument during a cardiovascular surgical procedure. An inner tubular member rotating inside an outer tubular member provides the means for rotation of a surgical instrument, with an arthroscopic grasper mounted on the end of the outer member, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,528 to Heaven. A pull cable inside a catheter inserted into an artery and extended into the heart, specifically during a transmyocardial revascularization procedure, is use to steer the tip of the instrument through the artery, the pull cable at the handle portion of the instrument as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,530,913 to Giba. In U.S. Pat. No. 7,381,205 to Thommen, a spring elastic guide wire within a tub having a spiral section displaces a distal end of a flexible catheter tube.
None of the above noted patents, nor any others observed by the applicant, demonstrate a surgical instrument with a flexible shaft being steered by upper and lower resilient members having a respective first end attached at the operation end of the surgical instrument, the upper and lower resilient members further slideably attached together having a second operational end being pulled upward or downward by the push or pull of the control trigger, causing the operational end of the surgical instrument to bend in an intended direction and degree, steering the operational end of the surgical instrument through tissue, the instrument being turned to steer the operational end in any intentional direction.